Chapter 15 - Fire in the Ruined Vault
The heavy wooden table flipped over with a deafening crash. Dozens of glass alembics, tubes of boiling acid, and jars of volatile sulfur compounds shattered against the stone floor, splashing directly onto the open charcoal braziers Malachi used to heat his concoctions.
BOOM!
A blinding flash of green and purple fire erupted in the center of the cathedral vault. Shockwaves of hot air knocked the mercenaries off their feet. Thick, choking clouds of sulfurous chemical smoke immediately billowed out, blinding everyone in the room.
"Kill them! Kill them all!" Lord Aris’s furious voice screamed through the smoke.
Crossbow bolts snapped wildly through the dark, embedded themselves into wooden pillars and stone walls.
"Vance, the cages! Free the merchants!" Elara yelled, coughing through her sleeve as she grabbed Aurelia’s arm, pulling her toward the shadows of the massive stone pillars.
Vance roared like a wild bear, using his heavy axes to shatter the iron locks of the merchant cages. The weakened prisoners spilled out, creating total chaos as they stumbled blindly through the smoke, distracting the mercenary guards.
"Malachi!" Elara called out, her voice echoing through the burning cavern. She spotted the doctor through the haze, frantically gathering his leather-bound formula journals from a stone altar.
Malachi looked up in terror as Elara charged through the smoke toward him. He pulled a silver dagger from his belt and lunged at her with wild, desperate swings. "You ruined my life! I was the chief physician of the realm!"
Elara dodged the first blade strike, her years of manual labor giving her superior speed and balance. She grabbed Malachi’s wrist, twisting it hard until the dagger clattered against the stone. With a sharp strike from her elbow, she hit him squarely in the chest, sending him crashing back against his own chemical altar.
A heavy jar of concentrated sleeping toxin fell from the top shelf, shattering directly over Malachi’s face and chest.
Malachi gasped, inhaling the concentrated liquid powder. Within seconds, his eyes rolled back, his limbs went completely limp, and he collapsed into a deep, deathlike stupor on the stone floor—trapped by his own sinister creation.
Meanwhile, Lord Aris was retreating toward the back secret exit leading to the quarry docks, holding a leather chest containing the complete chemical blueprints for the Imperial empire.
"He's escaping with the formulas!" Aurelia shouted, pursuing him with her sword drawn.
"Aurelia, wait!" Elara yelled, turning away from the unconscious Malachi to follow the princess.
Aris turned at the mouth of the tunnel, drawing his sword with a malicious grin. "You're a brave girl, Aurelia. But a princess raised in silk cannot defeat a soldier of the Imperial Guard."
Aris lunged with blinding speed, his rapier flashing through the air. Aurelia parried the first blow, but the sheer force of his attack forced her back against the brick wall, her sword knocked from her hand.
Aris raised his blade, pointing it directly at Aurelia’s heart. "Say goodbye to your kingdom, child."
THUD!
A heavy iron shovel struck Lord Aris across the back of his helmet with bone-shattering force.
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Aris crumpled to his knees, his eyes unfocused, his sword slipping from his grasp. Standing behind him was Captain Vance, panting heavily, holding a bloody shovel he had grabbed from the grave-digging supplies in the cavern.
"You nobles always forget about the tools of the common man," Vance grunted, kicking Aris flat onto his face and securing him with heavy iron cuffs.
